1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relates to the field of traffic engineering, and more specifically, to vehicle monitoring and control.
2. Description of Related Art
Car accidents cause a significant loss to the economy in a number of ways, including loss of lives, insurance costs, hospital expenses, etc. There are a number of causes for car accidents. Examples of these causes include driving under the influence or drowsiness, poor weather conditions, etc. To help reduce the accidents, law enforcement officers have increasingly made efforts to check vehicles on streets, install check points, etc. These efforts, unfortunately, are not effective because they do not deal with real-time incidents when accidents occur.
In addition to car accidents, there are also many other costs associated with the use of vehicles by the public. Examples of these costs include stolen vehicles, police pursuit of criminals, etc. Techniques, such as LoJack, to help locate stolen vehicles are not cost effective and inefficient. Typically, the response time may be too slow.
Accordingly, there is a need to have an effective method to monitor and/or control vehicles.